Southwest District Council: Summer map; Admiral speed; Triangle

From last night’s Southwest District Council: Above, that’s SWDC co-chair Tony Fragada, also president of the Alki Community Council, peeking out from behind a map, as the council discussed plans to showcase neighborhood groups during the upcoming West Seattle Summer Fest (July 8-9-10 in The Junction). That’ll include ways, like the map, to show festivalgoers how to find the nearest neighborhood group (and how to know which neighborhood they’re in!) That was part of another busy agenda for SWDC, whose members represent community councils and other key organizations around the area. But one big topic took a fair amount of time – read on:

On the same day that the city officially invited West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group members – several of whom are also on the SWDC – to a a new round of meetings, for a Phase 2 (as reported here), council reps voiced dissatisfaction with how the process was unfolding. (That was discussed last time around, too.) When City Council President Richard Conlin took the floor later in the meeting for a different reason, they gave him an earful too.

SWDC co-chair Susan Melrose from the West Seattle Junction Association led the discussion, saying the first round of Triangle meetings yielded no consensus, and she would like to see the city Department of Planning and Development come forward with a proposal as a starting point for future discussion. Till now, Fairmount Community Association‘s Sharonn Meeks and Morgan Community Association‘s Chas Redmond agreed, the process has been “abstract” and without clear direction regarding what the Advisory Group was expected to do.

When they brought this up to Conlin, he said he was aware of the issues, but that Councilmembers Sally Clark – who chairs the Committee on the Built Environment – and Tom Rasmussen, who chairs the Transportation Committee, were most directly plugged in. Rasmussen, according to Conlin, is working on finding a consultant to work with DPD and the neighborhood to shape proposals that would then be vetted through a public process. Meeks offered that Triangle-area property owners must be engaged when those proposals roll out, and Conlin agreed.

He was there mostly to update SWDC on City Council priorities past and present. For this year, out of the council’s relatively long list, he focused mostly on these five: the Families and Education Levy, economic recovery, figuring out how to run Seattle Parks‘ community centers, rethinking mass transit, and library funding.

ADMIRAL WAY TRAFFIC SAFETY: Also last night, Southwest Precinct operations Lt. Pierre Davis (the precinct’s second-in-command) was in attendance, as is usually the case, and Admiral Neighborhood Association rep Karl de Jong had questions for him about the Aggressive Driver Response Team patrols that SPD has been featuring on its Blotter reports. Lt. Davis says the patrols are continuing and that it looks like they’ll continue into summer; the precinct gets weekly reports on what the ADRT is up to, and while there are still some “extreme speeders” getting ticketed (here’s our item about a March bridge ticket for 92 mph), in his view, the program seems to be working and drivers in general seem to be slowing down.

The Southwest District Council meets the first Wednesday night of the month, 7 pm, South Seattle Community College board room. No website yet but they’re working on it!

4 Replies to "Southwest District Council: Summer map; Admiral speed; Triangle"

  • MJC April 7, 2011 (3:27 pm)

    Great Map! How can I get a hold of one?

    • WSB April 7, 2011 (3:39 pm)

      It’s being made for display at Summer Fest – there are certainly a bunch of other maps available too for WS :)

  • westside April 7, 2011 (5:13 pm)

    I thought the Triangle was coming up with a plan for streets in the area. I was at a meeting, and it looks pretty good to me. I doubt it is possible to get consensus anyway.

  • Al April 8, 2011 (8:39 am)

    The plan looks great – the city has actually done a good job incorporating the needs of that particular area from pedestrians to large lumber delivery trucks. If you are still unsure, attend the next public meeting session!

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